Baby Keem facts for kids

Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr. (born October 22, 2000), known professionally as Baby Keem, is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Las Vegas, he gained recognition in the late 2010s with his contributions to Black Panther: The Album, Redemption, Crash Talk, and The Lion King: The Gift. He rose to prominence in 2019 through his sleeper hit single "Orange Soda".

After signing with PGLang and Columbia Records in 2020, Keem released his debut studio album The Melodic Blue (2021), which was met with critical and commercial success. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and its final single, "Family Ties", won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. His collaborations with Kanye West on Donda (2021) and his cousin Kendrick Lamar on Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022) earned him two nominations for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Early life

He was born Carson, California. Prior to beginning his rapping career, Hykeem spent his early life (as early as 4 years old) in music studios watching his Aunts & Uncles "burn" CD's using the famous platform LimeWire, which was the most common source of free music listening back in the early 2000's. Just a few years later, he shared his memories of hearing Kanye West's album "808s & Heartbreak" on the radio while living in Las Vegas during the Winter of 2008. This sparked his interest for music even more, which spurred his music research the following year. Keem looked up to artists such as Ye, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Eminem, 50 Cent, along with others.

Keem became a small, yet prominent YouTuber who was involved in the Minecraft Survival Games mini-game scene during the early 2010's. Keem's Minecraft account was under the in game name "hykeemc" and his YouTube account went by the alias "AllMightyModz". Keem was known for being a highly skilled player on The Hive and MCGamer Network servers, amassing more than 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel because of his prowess. Keem would frequently hold Skype calls where his fans could play along with him. Today, Keem's channel is inactive, however, the links on his channel direct you to Keem's current SoundCloud account.

It wasn't until 2014 that Hykeem decided to start pursuing his own musical career.

Career

2014–2018: Career beginnings

Carter made his first song, "Come Thru", during his freshman year of high school; it was removed from the Internet and he hopes "nobody will ever find it." His first extended play (EP), Oct, was independently released under his birth name on November 7, 2017, but was removed from major streaming media services shortly after its release. According to RapTV, the 9-track EP showed traces of Carter's future musical style by "featuring a mix of bouncy, hard beats and slower, emotional cuts." He released his second EP, Midnight, on January 16, 2018. Although it showcased the same production as Oct, RapTV noticed that Carter's delivery was "more confident and loud." In an interview with Complex, he admitted that Midnight did not have any real artistic direction, and described the project as "just nine songs in my stash that I liked and put out."

After emailing a sample of his production to independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment, Carter contributed to the soundtrack album for the superhero film Black Panther (2018) as a producer. During the summer, he released two EPs, No Name and Hearts and Darts, and produced two songs on Jay Rock's third studio album Redemption. He considers Hearts and Darts, which was his first project under his stage name Baby Keem, to have personality that Midnight lacked. In October 2018, he released his debut mixtape, The Sound of Bad Habit, through the Orchard and Sony Music. The mixtape was executive produced by Cardo.

2021–present: The Melodic Blue

Keem was featured on Kanye West's song "Praise God" alongside Travis Scott for the former's tenth album, Donda (2021). The Melodic Blue, his debut studio album, was released on September 10, 2021. He co-produced 14 of the album's 16 standard tracks. It received generally positive reviews from music critics, with praise towards its ambitious nature and Keem's growing potential, but criticism towards its "half-baked" production. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, becoming Keem's first top-10 album in the U.S. Two of the album's four singles, "Durag Activity" with Scott and "Family Ties" with Lamar, enjoyed critical and commercial success. Keem embarked on the Melodic Blue Tour, which visited cities in North America and Europe from November 2021 to July 2022, and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote The Melodic Blue. A B-side to the album was released on September 22, 2021, while the deluxe edition was released on October 28, 2022.

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards (April 2022), "Family Ties" won Best Rap Performance. Keem produced two songs and was featured on Lamar's fifth album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022), and served as the co-opening act on the accompanying Big Steppers Tour. He also appeared on the tour's film companion. On May 30, 2023, Keem and Lamar surprise released "The Hillbillies". They headlined the first night of the 2023 Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival as the superduo of the same name. Keem is set to make his acting debut in the short film adaptation of The Melodic Blue, which will be released on December 5, 2023. He executive produced the film through his production company, Eerie Times.

Artistry

Influences

..... Kid Cudi's one of my favorite artists."

In a 2021 interview with Billboard, Keem reportedly identified as part of the Mike WiLL Made-It and Metro Boomin generation, saying he derives inspiration from the two producers, as well as from Kanye West.

Discography

• The Melodic Blue (2021)

Filmography

Film

Tours

Headlining

• The Melodic Blue Tour (2021–2022)

Supporting

• Kendrick Lamar – The Big Steppers Tour (2022)

Awards and nominations